Chương 13: Advancing to Hobgoblin

The sun rose the next day over a goblin tribe with a new leader. As the tallest and strongest among them, Li Qinwu took command without opposition. With the soul of a human, he refused to let the tribe remain in its usual state of chaotic filth. He immediately organized the goblins into functional groups. Half were assigned to Hunting Parties —five squads of thirty goblins each, dispatched in all directions to find prey. Li Qinwu warned them sternly: every kill had to be brought back for him to distribute.

Anyone caught skimming off the top would meet a miserable end. The remaining half became the Work Detail. Their first task was grim: digging a massive pit to bury the thirty-plus corpses of the goblins who had died from the red berries days prior. These bodies had been rotting in the middle of the settlement for two days; the previous Chief's negligence was staggering. While goblins were as hardy as cockroaches, they weren't immune to disease.

A plague spawned from rotting meat could wipe out the entire tribe in one go. After setting the tasks, Li Qinwu recruited seven new goblins to replace yesterday's combat losses. He then took his nineteen-man squad back to the river to hunt Horned Crocodiles. Yesterday had proven that Red Poison Berries were a surgical tool for taking down the beasts. Li Qinwu spent the entire day in a hunting frenzy. By evening, twenty-one Horned Crocodiles lay dead by his hand. He surged to Level 10, his Vigor rising from 8 to 12.

His height shot up to 1. 8 meters—towering even by Hobgoblin standards. He maxed out his Athletics skill at Level 5 and dumped his remaining focus points into One-Handed. Now that he possessed a functional iron hatchet, he intended to grind his weapon proficiency; he had a feeling he'd need it soon. As dusk fell, the hunt stopped. Li Qinwu had the goblins work together to flip the day's kills. Using the hatchet, he sliced through the softer bellies and peeled away the hides.

These were precious armor materials, and now that he had a metal blade, he intended to harvest every last one. He also hacked off the horns and stored them safely. The day's total haul (system drops plus manual harvesting) was staggering: Grain × 42 Horned Crocodile Hide × 37 Horned Crocodile Horn × 5 Horned Crocodile Sinew × 11 Denars: 1890 Li Qinwu grinned so wide his teeth were showing. However, a dilemma remained: what to do with the literal tons of crocodile meat?

These beasts had been poisoned with the red berries. The toxicity of those plants was supernatural—likely a magical flora—and he was hesitant to let twenty-one carcasses rot. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. He recalled documentaries from his past life stating that many natural toxins are proteins that break down under high heat. He didn't know if that rule applied to an isekai world, but he intended to find out via a "voluntary" test subject.

He cut a slab of crocodile meat, washed it thoroughly in the river, skewered it, and roasted it over the fire until it was essentially jerky—tough enough to break a weak tooth. Then, he called Gob-Large over.

"You showed courage today. I reward you with this meat!" Li Qinwu said, feeling zero moral burden as he handed over the skewer. Gob-Large was delighted and wolfed it down in seconds. Li Qinwu stared at him intently; Gob-Large stared back, confused.

"Do you feel... anything special?" Li Qinwu asked. Gob-Large scratched his cheek.

"No... oh, wait! Yes!" Li Qinwu tensed up.

"Tell me, quickly!" Gob-Large looked bashful.

"Boss, I feel like I'm not full yet." Li Qinwu rolled his eyes. He told the others to start eating as well. If they died, he'd just recruit more; if they lived, he'd just secured a massive food supply. The results were heartening. An hour passed, and not one of the nineteen goblins showed signs of poisoning. Li Qinwu breathed a sigh of relief. Either the toxin remained concentrated in the digestive tract and hadn't leached into the muscle, or high heat truly neutralized the "Magic Poison."

"Men, listen up!" Li Qinwu barked.

"Process the crocodiles! Strip the meat, skewer it, and bring it back. Do not touch the internal organs!" Because the workload was massive, he sent Gob-Spear running back to the tribe to fetch the Work Detail. When the village goblins arrived and saw the carpet of crocodile meat, they were stunned. They hadn't seen this much food in their entire lives. Each crocodile weighed at least 500kg, yielding over 300kg of edible meat. This was enough to feed the tribe for months. Tribal morale skyrocketed.

To them, the Chief's brilliance was like the sun itself. The era of the old, fat Chief was officially over. Back at the settlement, Li Qinwu lit a massive central bonfire. He ordered the goblins to wash the meat at the spring, slice it thin, and roast it into jerky.

"Work hard, you lot! No sneaking bites. If you do this right, I'll let everyone eat their fill tonight!" The promise sent the goblins into a celebratory frenzy. They worked with double the speed. Soon, thousands of skewers were roasting, and a thick, savory aroma filled the air. As darkness fell, the Hunting Parties began to return. They were gobsmacked to find the tribe overflowing with meat. They had spent all day chasing rabbits and picking berries; they wondered if they'd walked into the wrong village.

Li Qinwu lined them up to inspect their catches. The first three squads had a few rabbits and berries—not much, but enough for their daily needs. It showed they had tried. Li Qinwu nodded in approval, then walked up to the squad leaders and sniffed them. The goblins stood still, confused. After smelling them all, Li Qinwu slapped the first leader across the face.

"Dammit! How many days has it been since you bathed? Get to the spring and scrub yourselves until the smell is gone, or you don't get a single bite of meat!" The leader beamed with joy—getting slapped was a small price for "meat permission." He led his squad to the spring immediately. The second and third squads received the same treatment. But when he reached the fourth squad, he saw they only had a few shriveled berries and some insects. Li Qinwu frowned. The yield was suspiciously low.

He looked at the squad leader, who was wearing a sycophantic grin, clearly eager to go eat. Li Qinwu leaned in and took a deep breath. He smelled thick, fresh blood. Li Qinwu's rage flared. He lunged forward, grabbing the leader by the throat and slamming him into the dirt.